'People did not die or take up arms for equality. They did so for Irish freedom'

'People did not die or take up arms for equality. They did so for Irish freedom'

Brian Arthurs and Peter McCaughey left Sinn Féin after the party signalled it was serious about working with the PSNI. They're now leading figures in a growing 'independent' republican movement, writes Suzanne Breen, Northern Editor

One of the most senior ex-Provisional IRA figures in the North has said that the nationalist community should not pass on information or "collaborate in any way" with the PSNI.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Tribune, Brian Arthurs, a former commander of the Tyrone Brigade, said Sinn Féin and "other constitutional nationalist parties" were wrong to say that the PSNI should be supported.

Arthurs, who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, said he had supported the Good Friday Agreement but had become very disillusioned with the failure to progress towards Irish unity.

Similar comments were voiced by Peter McCaughey, another former senior Provisional IRA member from Co Tyrone. Both men disclosed that they had left Sinn Féin two years ago after a major split in the republican movement in Tyrone.

Five Sinn Féin cumainn, and 90% of the East Tyrone brigade, left in the move. Arthurs said: "No one can deny that there have been changes in the North but it is an equality agenda being pursued. People did not die, they did not take up arms, for equality. They did so for Irish freedom.

"Yet a huge £100m MI5 building has been built in the North and 5,000 British soldiers remain here. A special British military intelligence unit has just been deployed in Derry.

"David Cameron told the Tory party conference that he was prime minister of Britain and Northern Ireland. He stressed the importance of the union and said, 'together is how we must remain'. Republicans cannot see Irish unity in any of this. It should be remembered that, as republicans, we were committed to fight on until Britain made a declaration of intent to withdraw from Ireland."

Arthurs and McCaughey both come from prominent republican families. Arthurs' brother Declan was one of eight IRA men shot dead by the SAS in Loughall in 1987. McCaughey's brother Martin, and another IRA member Dessie Grew, were killed on active service by the SAS in 1990.

A number of independent republican societies – named after the 1916 leaders and other republican martyrs – have now been formed in Tyrone. "We have six societies with around 200 members and we are in the process of forming another six," Arthurs stated.

He said the societies were "committed to upholding the ideals of the 1916 Proclamation and Irish national self-determination" and were made up of new young members and veteran republican activists.

The societies held a rally, attended by 1,500 people, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Martin McCaughey and Dessie Grew earlier this month. Peter McCaughey said he was "extremely disappointed" with Sinn Féin's condemnation of those who remain involved in 'armed struggle'.

After the Real IRA bomb attack on the Ulster Bank in Derry, Martin McGuinness called those responsible "conflict junkies" and "neanderthals". After the murder of two British soldiers at Massereene last year, he condemned the killers as "traitors to the island of Ireland".

Peter McCaughey said: "Was my brother a 'conflict junkie', a 'neanderthal' or a 'traitor to the island of Ireland'? That is what Martin McGuinness would call him if he was killed on active service today. My brother was a freedom fighter. He fought for a united Ireland. That goal is still there and remains deeply cherished by republicans in Tyrone.

"We were disgusted when Martin McGuinness stood at the gates of
Stormont with the chief constable of the PSNI after Massereene and demonized republicans. He did not speak for us."

Brian Arthurs said the nationalist community should not "pass on information or collaborate with the PSNI" as Sinn Féin and the SDLP urged: "Young people now, just like young people during the previous phase of conflict, will continue to be attracted to the republican struggle.

"It can be argued that an armed campaign is not advisable at this point in time but it will never be right to inform on those who decide otherwise. Informing on republicans will lead to their families being oppressed by the state. It will lead to the arrest and incarceration of volunteers and, at worst, to their death.

"It was wrong to pass information to the police 20 or 30 years ago and it is wrong now. The graveyards are full of young republicans put there because a small minority of the nationalist community passed information to the British forces."

Arthurs said the independent republican societies in Tyrone were "non-party political" and were not linked to Republican Sinn Féin, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, or éirígí.

Arthurs and McCaughey said that, despite long-standing reservations about the direction of Sinn Féin's strategy, they and others had remained loyal to the leadership because they didn't want to split the movement.

"Two years ago, it reached the point that we couldn't stay," McCaughey said. "We were told at a meeting in Tyrone that Sinn Féin's support for the PSNI wasn't just a written policy, we had to implement the strategy in full or leave. So we left."

McCaughey (40) had been a Sinn Féin member for over 20 years. He served four years in the H-Blocks for possession of weapons. Arthurs is a former election agent for Sinn Féin MP Michelle Gildernew. In 1995, he was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment for possession of explosives. He was released five years later under the Good Friday Agreement. He was arrested in connection with the 2004 Northern Bank robbery and released without charge.

In 2007, he was charged with obtaining money fraudulently in relation to a mortgage application. He was acquitted. He is currently facing the same charges again and has pleaded not guilty. His request to be tried by a jury, rather than a Diplock court, was refused. He is appealing that decision to the House of Lords.

Comment:

Obviously there are some views expressed in this article that not everybody would agree with, but the implication is loud and clear that not all Irish republicans are staunch supporters of Sinn Fein and the Stormont government. It also makes the point that the groups mentioned here are not affiliated with any of the current dissident paramilitary groups. Perhaps they are made up of former “physical force republicans” who feel that Sinn Fein has lost their way. Is this the “other side of the story”? That would be for the reader to decide.

Sinn Féin brands PSNI response to armed robbery “inadequate and disgraceful”

Sinn Féin brands PSNI response to armed robbery “inadequate and disgraceful”

Brónagh Murphy – 14 October 2010

The PSNI’s response to an armed robbery at the home of a Newry woman has been severely criticised by Sinn Féin councillor and District Policing Partnership member, Brendan Curran who has accused the police of having nationalist “no-go areas” in Newry.

Following the police refusal to visit the victim at her home, it was revealed that she had to meet detectives in a city centre carpark to give details of her ordeal.

This situation, Curran said, is “totally unacceptable” and questioned “whether this is protocol for policing in Newry”.

Tied up and Threatened

The lady was alone in her Carnagat Park home on Thursday evening when two masked men forced their way in around 8.00pm. The pair tied her up and threatened her with a gun before escaping with a sum of money.

Councillor Brendan Curran has accused the police of treating the area as a “no-go area” by refusing to attend the scene following the report of the incident. He said the victim’s “terrible and traumatic” ordeal was compounded by the police response, describing it as “totally inadequate and disgraceful” and says the people of the area deserve “a full police service which meets their needs”.

Traumatic

“This lady went through a terrible and traumatic robbery in her own home. However, if this nightmare was not bad enough, the lack of response to this robbery from the PSNI was totally inadequate and disgraceful,” Mr Curran said.

“The apprehension of these criminals demanded an immediate and effective response, but instead the police refused to enter the area.

“We cannot tolerate police ‘no go’ areas in Newry. The people who live in the Carnagat and Derrybeg area are entitled to a full police service which meets their needs as are people in all other areas,” he added.

The victim’s husband confirmed that they met detectives in a city centre carpark to give their statement.

Threat

A spokeswoman for the PSNI dismissed suggestions of ‘no-go” areas saying officers “would assess the situation and then seek to take the right action to keep both the community and our officers safe”.

She said that even though officers are “working against the backdrop of an increased terrorist threat, we will not shy away from our responsibilities to the local community”.

Arrest

A 54-year-old man arrested a short time after the incident was released on bail pending further inquiries.

Police have appealed for anyone with information on the robbery to contact them.

Comment:

Incidents such as this along with accusations of “no go areas” for the police do not speak very well for the Stormont government’s administration of their long sought after policing and justice powers.

Shannon could lose U.S. troop transfers to Germany

Shannon could lose U.S. troop transfers to Germany

Shannon Airport, long seen as teetering on the brink, could face the loss of hugely valuable U.S. troop transfers after Germany’s Leipzig airport tabled a major bid for the multi-million euro business.

The Co. Clare airport has recently seen devastating cutbacks by major carriers such as Ryanair, and is expected to next year face a 60pc drop in passenger throughput compared to 2006 figures. Ryanair, to this point Shannon's major carrier, recently cut its operations at the airport after failing to secure a discounted landing charges deal, and its presence at the hub will shortly drop to just a single plane.

It is estimated that over one million U.S. troops have passed through Shannon en route to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2006, with nearly 250,000 passing through in 2009. The business generated by the troop transfers was said to be worth in excess of €9 million last year alone.

With Operation Iraqi Freedom ending on August 31st and the non-combat Operation New Dawn in effect from September 1st, the numbers of military personnel coming through Shannon were expected to drop sharply even before the Leipzig bid surfaced.

The Dublin Airport Authority, which effectively controls both Shannon and Cork, is under mounting pressure amidst rapidly worsening trading performances at what are Ireland's two key regional airports.

From a high of 3.6 million passengers in 2006 and 2007, Shannon’s figures decreased to 3.2 million in 2008 before dropping to 2.8 million last year. It is anticipated this year's number will drop by almost half to 1.5 million.

The downturn has led to immense frustration from business and tourism leaders in the region, with the airport’s board accused of failing to outline clearly the future plans for the hub.

The news will be well-received in some circles however, as the U.S. military’s use of Shannon is seen by many as a violation of Ireland’s neutrality. Since the transits began, the Irish Anti-War Movement and other groups have held a number of protests at the airport, which is also thought to have been used for so-called extraordinary rendition flights by the CIA and U.S. military.

In September 2008 the UN Human Rights Committee expressed its concerns about allegations that Irish airports were being used as stop off points for flights carrying persons to countries where they risk being tortured.

Labour Transport spokesman Joe Costello, speaking recently at a foreign policy conference organized by the Irish Anti-War Movement, said:

"There is need for a…statement that the Island of Ireland, its people, resources and facilities will not be involved actively or passively in external aggression."

Comment:

Let's make no mistake about it. If the vast amount of income and hundreds of jobs at Shannon Airport are transferred to Germany, much of the blame can be attributed to the misguided far left "whackos" who conducted the despicable demonstrations against our valiant American troops. First of all, these grossly misguided demonstrators continue to labor under the illusion of "Irish neutrality" which is not enshrined in the Irish Constitution and exists only in the minds of those who wish that it was. Secondly, the only difference between our American troops passing through Shannon and any other passengers is the camouflage uniforms they wear.They carry no arms nor do the aircraft that they travel in. Indeed, most of the aircraft are owned by commercial carriers under contract to the U.S. government. Thirdly, it is nothing short of stupidity for a country on the brink of complete financial disaster to throw away multi millions of Euro and much needed jobs to support a policy of "Irish neutrality" which, in fact, does not even exist. God Bless our Troops and God Bless America!

Proudly posted by,

Jack Meehan, Past National President

Ancient Order of Hibernians in America

Government unveils new plan to create 300,000 jobs

Taoiseach Brian Cowen launches a major new integrated plan aimed at generating up to 300,000 jobs

LUKE CASSIDY – Irish Times – 28 September 2010

Taoiseach Brian Cowen has announced a major new integrated plan for trade, tourism and investment in Dublin today that is aimed at generating up to 300,000 jobs.

The Trading and Investing in a Smart Economy strategy also intends to boost Irish exports by one third.

The plan will promote overseas trade, tourism and investment and be integrated across a range of Government departments.

It aims to create over 150,000 new jobs in manufacturing, tourism and internationally trading services directly, with another 150,000 generated through spin-offs.

Unveiling the plan, the Taoiseach said international trade, tourism and investment are 'crucial' to the creation and protection of jobs.

“This new integrated action plan will ensure a sharp focus across the entire Government system on opening new markets for Irish firms, creating many thousands of new jobs, repositioning Ireland in the international marketplace and bringing a new business focus to our diplomatic missions abroad," the Taoiseach said. "To recover from the current unprecedented economic crisis, we need new thinking about our country and her place in the world.”

He said the 21st century will see new powers of Brazil, Russia, India, China, in the Middle East and Africa emerging and Ireland must seize these opportunities.

The five-year plan hopes to increase the number of overseas visitors to the country to eight million and attract an extra 780 foreign investment projects through IDA Ireland. Agency-assisted indigenous exports totalled almost €13 billion last year, and the plan aims to increase this by €4 billion by 2015.

It will also see the establishment of a new Foreign Trade Council comprising all relevant departments and agencies to implement the plan.

The roles of the council will be to devise new common "brand Ireland" initiatives, exploit marketing platforms such as St Patrick’s Day and trade missions, open new markets for Irish enterprises, align visa policy with business interests and maximise the effectiveness of overseas diplomatic and agency representatives.

Mr Cowen talked about tapping into the “huge and willing resource” of the Irish diaspora and using the immigrant community within the country to help build up trade and investment abroad.

The Taoiseach was joined at the launch this morning by the Minister for Enterprise Batt O’Keeffe, Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin, Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith and Minister for Trade and Commerce Billy Kelleher.

Mr O’Keeffe said the plan would strengthen Ireland’s trade links through a joined-up approach and by increasing the destination of indigenous exports into new high-growth target markets such as Brazil, China, India, Russia, Japan and the Gulf States.

In terms of tourism Ms Hanafin said the short term focus will be on growing numbers in markets such as the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. However, she added that the Asia Pacific region will present the fastest growing outbound markets over the next 15 years.

Mr Smith said the strategy will help agencies such as Bord Bia and Bord Iascaigh Mhara to expand their market share overseas.

Comment:

This seems like a plan that is more ambitious than it is workable. But, given the deplorable economic and employment situation in Ireland today, anything to possibly improve them is certainly worth consideration. The Irish people are on the verge of being subjected to what has been described as “savage cuts in government services” when the budget is announced in early December. Maybe news such as this can provide them with some degree of hope that better days may lie ahead.

Northern leaders turned down papal invitation

GERRY MORIARTY and MARK HENNESSY - Fri, Sep 17, 2010

NORTHERN IRELAND’S First and Deputy First Ministers Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness did not accept invitations to meet with Pope Benedict XVI in Edinburgh in an effort to avoid causing difficulties for either of them, both men confirmed last night.

Up to now, because of their opposing political and religious allegiances, there was an unspoken protocol whereby Mr Robinson and before him, former DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley, would deal with British royal business, while papal matters would be left to Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Mr McGuinness.

The invitation posed particular difficulties for Mr Robinson, who would have attended the Holyroodhouse reception with the pope and Queen Elizabeth, while his predecessor-in-office, Ian Paisley, was in the city protesting at Pope Benedict’s state visit.

Meanwhile, the German cardinal who caused a diplomatic flurry just hours before the pope’s visit has refused to apologise for describing the UK as an “aggressively atheistic society” and for saying that Heathrow airport looks like something from the Third World.

Leading British clerics, led by the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, had issued several calls for an apology for the “intemperate remarks” of Cardinal Walter Kasper, a confidante of the pope.

Standing by the comments, the cardinal’s spokesman claimed that he had merely highlighted the UK’s ethnic make-up: “Kasper meant to say there are people there from all around the world and you could be in Mumbai, Kinshasa, Islamabad or Nairobi,” said Msgr Oliver Lahl.

“It was not a negative connotation, it was the opposite of racism. He meant the UK is no longer a mono-ethnic or mono-religious state, and can be a positive example for Europe,” said Msgr Lahl.

The cardinal is particularly standing by his charge that the Catholic Church in the UK faces an “aggressive new atheism”, particularly from writers such as Richard Dawkins, whose work is not simply academic and whose books sell out, said Msgr Lahl.

“Christianity is no longer protected like other religions in the UK and it is easier for journalists and writers to attack Christians. Atheism is returning after 20 years off the radar with a very aggressive agenda,” he said.

Pope Benedict will today meet with the global head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, following months of tensions between the Vatican and the Anglicans over the future of conservative priests in the Anglican Church.

The two men met briefly yesterday at a reception hosted by Queen Elizabeth at Holyroodhouse Palace in Edinburgh, but they will be joined by some of their bishops for this evening’s meeting in Lambeth Palace in London.

Last October, the Vatican caused dismay among many Anglicans when it offered to recruit Anglican priests unhappy with the direction their church was taking, without them having to give up Anglican traditions, including the right for clergy to be married.

The second day of the pope’s visit will concentrate in London, beginning with a speech to 3,000 students and teachers at St Mary’s University in Twickenham outside London to celebrate Catholic education.

The highlight of his trip will be tonight’s Westminster Hall speech to political and civic leaders, which is expected to focus strongly on the need for a religious influence in society at large and the need for religious organizations to play a vocational role in society.

Comment:

God forbid that their presence at the historic visit of our Holy Father to the UK would cause any undue difficulties for the First and Deputy First Ministers of the N.I. Assembly. If Catholicism is synonymous with Republicanism and Protestantism is synonymous with Unionism as we have been taught for so many years, I fear that we still have a very long and rocky road to travel before we see a true “shared society” in the North of Ireland.

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On Saturday, September 11th, 2010, an American flag should be displayed outside every home, apartment, office, and store in the United States . Every individual should make it their duty to display an American flag on this ninth anniversary of one our country's worst tragedies. We do this honor of those who lost their lives on 9/11, their families, friends and loved ones who continue to endure the pain, and those who today are fighting at home and abroad to preserve our cherished freedoms.

In the days, weeks and months following 9/11, our country was bathed in American flags as citizens mourned the incredible losses and stood shoulder-to-shoulder against terrorism. Sadly, those flags have all but disappeared. Our patriotism pulled us through some tough times and it shouldn't take another attack to galvanize us in solidarity. Our American flag is the fabric of our country and together we can prevail over terrorism of all kinds.

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Why the State and church feared acting against priest

Why the State and church feared acting against priest

Fears over a huge escalation of sectarian warfare ensured that the authorities chose not to take any action against Father James Chesney, writes Malachi O’Doherty

Tuesday, 24 August 2010

When Secretary of State William Whitelaw met Cardinal Conway to discuss James Chesney, the bomber priest, an appalling prospect loomed before them.

It was that the public disclosure that a Catholic priest was an IRA bomber would confirm the prejudices of loyalism against the Catholic Church and make all priests legitimate targets.

Chesney was a nasty piece of work, in the view of both the police and the church. He had directed the bombing of the village of Claudy on the day of Operation Motorman, when the Army moved against the no go areas. He had killed nine people, three of them children. And he had shown himself up as an incompetent.

He had not, presumably, wanted to kill children, but the bombers looked around after they'd left the bomb to find a working phone to make a warning call. They couldn't find one because the IRA had bombed the exchange the day before.

Neither police, nor government, nor the Catholic Church was ready for radical action against Chesney.

The police asked the NIO to talk to the cardinal, and Cardinal Conway transferred Chesney to a parish in Donegal, where he might continue to lead the faithful in prayer and administer the sacraments to them.

It was the only solution any of them had the stomach for in those dangerous times, though the Chief Constable, Graham Shillington, aired the view that it would have been better if Chesney had been sent to Tipperary. Donegal was hardly out of range of the IRA command structure.

The potential that they all had reason to fear was of a massive escalation of sectarian warfare, triggered by the disclosure that a priest was a suspected IRA killer, and this at just the moment when it seemed as if the mayhem was coming under control and political negotiations were starting.

This fear may never have been realised, of course. Loyalists often talked as if they believed that the Catholic Church was their enemy but they did not conduct their backlash against the Catholic community primarily on that premise.

Some priests had been killed, but not by loyalist paramilitaries. Two were shot by the Army, by soldiers who perhaps had no idea that their targets were clergymen.

But loyalist rhetoric said that the church was the enemy and Chesney might have appeared to many as embodied proof of that.

Rev Martin Smyth, later a Grand Master of the Orange Order, is reported as having told an Ulster Vanguard rally in spring

of 1972, that all the Troubles would come to an end if the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, would put his house in order. An absurd notion.

And the greatest champion of the idea that the Catholic Church was conspiring to absorb Ulster into a Catholic Ireland was the firebrand preacher Ian Paisley, later to be our First Minister.

There have been reports and rumours of other priests aligning themselves with the IRA.

The novelist Brian Moore painted a plausible picture of an unctuous Provo priest in Lies Of Silence.

Sean O Callaghan, the police agent inside the IRA, wrote of meeting a priest who helped IRA operations in the North, and there was a widely believed understanding that IRA activists in the early days, when terrorist leaders were religious men and women, would receive confession and communion before going to shoot people.

There have been priest activists and agitators and rumours of other real Provo priests, but the tricky line that campaigning priests like Des Wilson, Raymond Murray and Denis Faul trod was in opposing the methods of the state without endorsing the IRA.

Fr Wilson pointedly repeatedly refused to condemn the IRA, while criticising the actions of the Army and blaming the state for creating circumstances in which people would understandably express their wrath with violence.

Raymond Murray, when in Armagh, was a campaigner against the SAS and had documented, along with Denis Faul, numerous cases of attacks on republicans.

Denis Faul himself was a long-time campaigner for prisoners and argued the eccentric case that easing life for those inside would reduce tension on the streets. He fell out with the Provisionals over the hunger strikes campaign, which he believed was prolonged for Sinn Fein political advantage.

None has been the headache than James Chesney was. It is now clear that the police, the Secretary of State and the Catholic Church authorities believed that he was, in Cardinal Conway's words, “a very bad man”.

The compromise that the Cardinal and William Whitelaw reached was that Chesney be posted to Donegal. This is the same strategy the church used until recently in removing the embarrassment of a priest caught sexually violating children.

The outstanding injustice is that Chesney was never charged, Claudy victims were denied truth and Chesney himself never given a chance to clear his name.

But what is almost grisly too contemplate is that this man, whom the Cardinal accepted was a mass murderer, a slayer of little ones, was sent to a Donegal parish to hear children’s confessions and mediate God's forgiveness to them for their own peccadilloes.

The Ombudsman indicts the RUC of collusion in seeking to address the Chesney problem through the Government and the church rather than arresting him.

One of the shocking findings of the report is that it was the police themselves who initiated the process by which this suspect was transferred across the border.

The Ombudsman gets the point that there might have been serious consequences after the arrest of a priest. He doesn't spell them out.

The first is probably that the loyalists would have turned on the Catholic Church.

Another is that a campaign might have rallied around Chesney, seeking to portray him as an innocent victim of an anti-Catholic state.

Whitelaw would have worried that, just having taken over from Stormont to rule Northern Ireland in a conspicuously non-sectarian fashion, he would have been branded as having failed to curtail bigotry in the RUC.

And with the SDLP being gently coaxed towards talks at Darlington and Sunningdale, Whitelaw may have feared that the arrest of a priest would have raised a popular issue that would have mobilized opinion against its participation, especially if Chesney had been interned, an option at the time.

The RUC, of course, may have judged that interning Chesney or charging him and then seeing him acquitted would have done worse damage than merely ushering him away.

They may even have been just at the end of their tether in the face of the charge that they were a sectarian force and lost all hope of being able to pursue a case like this and be trusted to be acting from good motives.

They hadn't the credibility in the Catholic community to carry it off; it is probably as simple as that.

Comment:

I think that it has been fairly well established that collusion did, indeed, take place between the “security forces” and certain loyalist paramilitary organizations during the armed conflict in Ireland. However, is it not true that collusion is collusion no matter who the colluding parties might be? Why then is the silence so deafening now from the groups that usually seize any opportunity to speak out loud and clear on the issue of collusion?